unforum

[bagsbee]

[Fi]

Also be aware of the fact that if, as a PM, you haven't paid a fortune for corporate web hosting then you're likely to have a finite bandwidth available. If someone's set up a bot to download your site every half an hour or so, then it's likely to use up a lot of resources. Imagine if you have a network of sites being hosted centrally - all of these will be affected by the bot. If you're running your bot on sites for a smallish grassroots game, then it could have an adverse effect on the experience gained by everyone.

Just my two pence.

Cheers.

[Cortana]

[ustice]

He isn't talking about having this run on everyone's computer. He is having ONE machine that will check every 30 minutes. I am sure that he wouldn't mind changing the update time if even THAT is a problem. The extra bandwidth used should be neglidgable. If anything, it should REDUCE traffic, as it will mean that you don't have as many people sitting on a site hitting F5. But once again, it is something that the PM's could opt out of.

[Dorkmaster]

ustice, this is good in theory, but as long as there is an ARG to be played, there will be a greedy, or at the very least, overzealous player who will downloan a copy of the bot and locally have it scanning every 5 minutes instead of 10, and then we've got bandwidth issues.... I tend to agree that while the idea is nice in theory, it's just kinda close to bruteforcing, although not quite...

[bill]

If the bot were smart enough to check the last modified header, downloading the entire site wouldn't be necessary. If it weren't, I would block it.

[jchillerup]

The last modified header is often spoofed by apache it self, i have heard.

[ustice]

Dorkmaster, that could happen anyway. Also you can't just download a copy of it... it would be run server side, and not accessable for download, much like you can't just download Amazon's check out back-end. you ACCESS it, but you don't run it. Shoot, the first draft that Kender is talking about wouldn't even HAVE A web interface, only IRC. That should keep it light.

[imbri]

jumping in a bit late on this...

[MageSteff]

[krystyn]

Bots don't catch puzzles that have been there since day one. Bots also do not provide nuance and context. Bots cannot slice, dice, and Julienne your data for you.

Update bots make yr average ARGer way lazy, in my experience. That's not a good thing, net effect.

[AnthraX101]

[SpaceBass]

[konamouse]

[GMonger]

Interestingly, the split seems to very nearly (I want my use of the word nearly noted!) confrom to the amount of time one has been ARGing. That being said, I agree with all the arguments against, as all one DOES have to do if feeling lazy is hit IRC and wait for Grumpy-the-puzzle-god to make yet another breakthrough.
Besides which, one of my favorite moments to date was arriving home after the "ghostly anniversary computer infection" on GMH was supposedly over, hitting IRC to be told so, hitting GMH out of boredom to find the a very loud a disturbing noise blaring out at me, causing me to involuntarily quit my browser. After which, I inadvertantly caused several other people to be equally disquited by it.
Good times like that need the personal touch, as well as the possibility of being surprised.

I also now make sure my sound isn't above the halfway mark when I start loading in-game sites.